Peterson, Sausage King, and Hammer

Today, the parents of famous murderer Scott Peterson have hired two lawyers, Cliff Gardner and Lawrence Gibbs, to handle their son's appeals. These two lawyers also represent Lyle and Eric Menendez, the brothers from Beverly Hills who murdered their parents in 1989. Scott's father, Lee, says that "Since he is innocent, we don't want him sitting there any longer than he has to." On average, it takes five to six years for the state to assign appeals attorneys to death row inmates, so Peterson, who has only been on death row since March 2005, has gotten a lawyer relatively promptly. Although the Petersons could have allowed Mark Geragos, who defended Scott in his criminal trial, to handle his appeals as well, Geragos believes that the case needs "a fresh set of eyes."

Also, murderer Stuart Alexander, known as the "Sausage King" was found dead in his cell at San Quentin prison. San Quentin, of course, is the same prison that Scott Peterson calls home, and in fact, prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon has stated that he was considering assigning Peterson and the Sausage King to the same exercise yard because he believed they'd get along well. However, I don't know if Scott and the Sausage King were actually put in the same group, or if they became friends. The Sausage King gets his nickname from his occupation. He was a sausage maker who killed three government meat inspectors in 2000. He was sentenced to death and was placed in a maximum surveillance cell because he was known to have mental problems and was likely to commit suicide.

In other news, murderer David Hammer, who had been sentenced to death for strangling his cellmate, was given a new penalty phase yesterday. Evidence had been discovered that indicated that the crime was not premeditated. It is an interesting coincidence that after he killed his cellmate, Hammer became a close friend of Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh when they were both incarcerated at the federal death row prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Hammer had a cell next to McVeigh's, and they were such good friends that Hammer actually tried to commit suicice at the time of McVeigh's execution in June 2001. Hammer tried to kill himself by avoiding taking medication for his diabetes, but the suicide attempt was discovered and stopped by prison guards.